Russia Top Turkey In Thriller

Russia clinched a dramatic 64-63 victory over Turkey to finish Group B unbeaten at the U20 European Championship Women.

The defending champions had pulled out a 59-54 lead with a little over five minutes to go, but Turkey continued to battle and pulled level as Pinar Demirok made a jump-shot before Ayse Cora's big three-pointer tied it with 4:13 to go.

But Viktoria Medvedeva responded with a three of her own to push Russia clear again.

Nazli Gokdemir made it a one-point game and then Turkey snatched the lead for the first time since early in the third quarter when Cora's lay-up made it 63-62 with 59 seconds to go.

But Cora then missed another chance with 16 seconds left, and Russia raced to the other end.

Alexandra Tarasova's jump-shot missed but she drew a foul battling for her own rebound and coolly sank both free throws to put Russia back on top with six seconds left.

Turkey called a time-out but the play they drew up did not work as Aysegul Gunay's three-pointer was off-target at the buzzer.

Russia coach Dmitry Donskov admitted his team had not been at their best even as they won.

"After the two earlier victories, we were not as focused and we made some mistakes that we shouldn't make," he said.